Ethical Governance Committee & NHEV – Procurement Committee meet with other relevant Working Group Members from AHEM – Financing Banks and their counterpart representative from Process Committee to ensure financial health of partners, and service provider facilitating asset resolutions from 3IARC also participated.

Chair: Abhijeet Sinha, National Program Director, Ease of Doing Business chaired the meeting and briefed its outcomes to PRO – EoDB for press and public dissemination.

Two-point agenda from EoDB – EG Committee and NHEV Procurement Team:

1. Ethical Governance Committee: BluSmart has participated in the NHEV technical trials and has successfully met various parameters of the NHEV’s elevated customer service standards, as well as demonstrated technical competence in Assetization, Utilization, and Monetisation under challenging throughput conditions at its Gurugram-based charging stations co-powered by NHEV. To qualify for order the electric fleet company has also fulfilled the demanding NHEV intercity parameters by inducting long-range SUVs—first during the tech trials and subsequently continuing with intercity EV fleet operations. After disqualification of Lithium Urban for not participating in Tech-Trial NHEV is ethically, financially and technically in the process to place orders for approximately 2,700 electric SUVs with BluSmart; under the Select, Procure, Engineer, Deploy, Maintain & Monetise (SPEDMM) model. Since there cannot be a major deviation in the Estimate Committee’s recommendations from Govt of India between the submitted prototype of the pilot project phase to the parliament and the actual deployments being scaled nationwide in the NHEV expansion phases on 5000 km electric highways.

2. NHEV Procurement Team: In the current scenario, placing an order with BluSmart poses certain risks, and it is inevitable that the NHEV pilot seeks intervention from the Piloting Agency, Ease of Doing Business, to ensure that the positive characteristics of future mobility—on which BluSmart’s selection for participation was originally based—remain intact. The positivity must be protected for electric mobility industry regardless of any change in management, board, or any other measures / actions that regulatory bodies may eventually decide upon due to the irregularities that have surfaced.

“Indian Electric Mobility Industry has to go forward and much beyond the service standards that Blusmart staff and drivers proved possible to be delivered. Ease of Doing Business efforts are to ensure consumer interest doesn’t land in trash of a failed startup, financial irregularities redressals are must, but the positives side of the service that citizens were experiencing with electric mobility must not die.” – Abhijeet Sinha

Meeting Conclusion

Ease of Doing Business shall place a formal query before Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) to join a mutually beneficial joint meeting to exercise either of the following two alternatives as NHEV has vested interest in either protecting original participant’s technical competence and customer satisfaction standards or spend on Technical Trial and procurement to find replacement.

Action Finalised

Ease of Doing Business has placed a formal query before the Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) to know their willingness to join a mutually beneficial joint meeting. The purpose of this meeting will be to exercise one of the following two alternatives, as NHEV has no vested interest in the company. But has interest in either: (a) protecting the original participant’s technical competence and customer satisfaction standards, or (b) to avoid technical trials and fresh procurement to identify a suitable replacement.

A1) IREDA & PFC to rely on Blusmart plans to do whatever internal, rental and financial adjustment excercised by their board to

come out clean (from ongoing regulatory bodies inquiries and actions on irregularities) and financially healthy to repay loans and deliver SPEDMM orders to NHEV where the nationwide expansion shall be done on recent directions of Ministry of Cooperation, Govt of India in various local Cooperative Taxi Service units eventually absorbing IREDA & PFC fleets too.

A2) IREDA & PFC are to rely on BluSmart’s plans to undertake all necessary internal, rental, and financial adjustments as exercised by their board, in order to emerge clean from ongoing regulatory inquiries and actions related to irregularities. These adjustments are also intended to ensure BluSmart’s financial health to repay loans and successfully deliver SPEDMM orders to NHEV, if placed. NHEV nationwide expansion shall proceed in line with the recent directions of the Ministry of Cooperation, Govt of India, to form various local Cooperative Taxi Service units to run cab and fleet operation locally; which will eventually absorb IREDA and PFC fleets as well in co-operative model.

Ease of Doing Business emerging tech piloting wing has offered and assured all necessary services from NHEV to exercise the above-mentioned resolutions as per IREDA & PFC mandatory governing directions, regulatory compliances like valuation, auction and restructuring of assets to optimise, ulitise and monetise to ensure their interest in the communication sent to IREDA & PFC.